A Mafia Love Story
by katjewl
Summary: The story of 3 kids, one girl, two guys, a matespritship. It is not certain whether any of those things survives to the end. With disaster after disaster, nothing is set in stone anymore. Nothing. Rated T, for now, based on language and mature themes, not sexually. The rating my change to M, based on how I view later content.
1. Chapter 1

John was an ass. That much was certain. Trying to hold her temper, Feferi stood there, just watching him. Normally Karkat was there to help, John and Karkat, being matesprits and all seemed to work well…when John wasn't being a sadist and cutting Karkat's hands off, or killing him out right, then resurrecting him and killing him again. The list goes on, but right now, Karkat was absent, and Feferi was left to try and handle John on her own. Of course, in this situation, 'handle' means 'just try not to kill him and not get killed yourself'.

Feferi was close to boiling over, she was getting really tired of his insults, and was pretty much screaming on the inside, John, being the guy he was, had, at some point, had the brilliant idea to hide in her hair. In doing so, he only pissed her off more.

Despite everything she tried, he wouldn't get out, partially due to the fact that he was tangled. She could feel that he was braiding her hair or something, but nevertheless, she wanted him out.

"Hey, Feferi!" he says, as he stopped braiding.

She takes a deep breath composes her self, careful not to shout, but her pissed off mood still shows through in her voice, "Hm? Yeah? What is it now, John?"

"Cuttlefish are stupid!" he says, pulling a face.

She has finally lost all patience, "Glub you, John!" she dives into a pool of water that is suddenly just there. "Stay trapped in my hair, motherglubber, and drown for all I care!"

John uses the air bubbles trapped in her hair to breath, "Haha, I…can…use…these…air …bubbles!" he speaks slowly, and it is hard to hear him, being underwater and all, but Feferi got the message.

"You'll run out eventually, John!"

Using the air bubbles to breath he squirms and manages to untangle himself, with help from the water. After successfully freeing himself, he swims up as fast as he can and runs the fuck to his room.

Feferi swims up after him, apon surfacing she cries out with joy, "Haha! Success! He's finally out if my hair!" Aware of the double meaning, she hoists herself out of the pool, and wrings out her hair a bit. Of course she hadn't really been trying to kill him, just get him to stop being so much of a little shit.

Meanwhile, as she dries herself off, John was in his room, staying silent and mentally freaking out. Feferi, even without knowing about that he is freaking out, decides she should probably find John and see if he's okay.

"John?" she calls "Where are-"

"FEFERI YOU'RE A DUMB BITCH!" John screams, interrupting her. At first he thought it was a brilliant idea, but as soon as the words escaped his mouth, he regretted them, and went to hide under his bed, silent as a rabbit.

"John?" she says, standing in the doorway of his room and trying not to let his insult affect her, "I'm sorry for trying to kill you, I really am...I wouldn't actually have done it, I was just trying to scare you!" She walks in to the room a bit, "John, come on…"

Again, John has the brilliant idea to insult her, "FEFERI IS A STUPID DUMB WHORE WHO NOBODY LIKES, EVERYONE ONLY PRETENDS TO BE HER FRIEND BECAUSE SHE'S A PRINCESS!" he screams the insult, venomously. He then hides back under the bed.

This time, the insult hits closer to home, and her eye's start to water, "John, come here…" she says it calmly, not mad…just upset, and sad. She crawls under the bed, and pulls him into her arms, fuchsia tears slip down her cheeks.

As Feferi puts her arms around him, John's facial expression morphs into confusion," F-Feferi?" he says, stuttering a bit.

"John, I'm sorry." she says, glumly, pulling away from the hug a bit.

He still looks a tad confused, "Sorry for what?"

"F-for almost killing you…" She looks at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.

He looks at her, his confusion softening into pity, he sighs and says "You had every right; I was being an annoying little shit." As he says this, she lays her head on her shoulder.

She keeps her head on his shoulder and mutters "No. Don't say that. No matter what you didn't…you don't deserve to die."

He hears he, just barely, but turns his attention to something more important, "F-Feferi, are you…crying?

She doesn't speak, just answers him with a light sniffle and a nod. His eyes widen, "Oh Feferi, I'm sorry!" he pulls her into a hug without hesitation, "I just wanted to piss you off!"

She looks up at him and anger crosses her face for a moment, but then she falls into a fit of sobs again, "Well you did a glubbing good job!"

"Feferi, I promise I won't mess with you ever again. I'm sorry. I'll go back to bothering Gamzee!" he says, trying to calm her down a bit.

"I'm sorry too, John, I'm sorry too." She returns the hug, still crying into his shoulder, pink tears staining the sleeve of his shirt.

John awkwardly paps Feferi's head, "Please don't cry anymore, Feferi."

She takes a shaky breath, and nods "Okay," she breathes out slowly, and dries her tears, before continuing, "I'll t-try". She looks up at him, and gives him a shaky smile.

As she looks at him, he bites his lip, hiding laughter, having the brilliant idea to insult her again, but thinks better of it, and instead, says, "I'm sorry..."

"I-I forgive you." She smiles again, "So am I."

Trying to change the subject, and cheer up, John grins and says, "Hey, Feferi? Guess what!"

She gives him a quizzical look before answering, "Hm? Yeah? What?"

He contains giggles, before responding, "Chicken buuuuuuuuuutt!"

She just stares at him, the corners of her mouth shaking as she tries not to laugh, and fails. Johhhhhnn! Ppftt, hahaha! That was sooo lame, but, somehow, still funny, haha" she continues to giggle.

"Yea, whenever I say it to Karkat he just gets PISSED."

"Haha, I've noticed" she stops giggling, but the smiles remains on her face.

John attempts to distract her from thinking about the earlier happenings, "So Feferi, 'sup?"

She looks a bit shocked at the pedestrian nature of his question, but answers "'Sup? Well, I miss Sollux...and Eridan." She frowns slightly.

John frowns as well, "Hmm... I'm sorry to hear that, but my epic powers only go so far..."

She smiles sadly before speaking, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll be back...eventually…" stares of into space, he expression plain, but tinted with sadness.

He smiles again, as another idea occurs to him. "So, a horse walks into a bar, and the bartender asks 'why the long face'". Resorting to his stock of bad jokes to try and cheer her up some more. He continues, "The horse, incapable of understanding human language. Promptly shits on the floor then leaves," he says the last part with a straight face, before breaking into giggles. Feferi snorts and breaks into giggles as well. Then her face lights up as she thinks of a return joke.

"John, why the long face? Have you been horsing around? Maybe you need a STABL-E relationship…" She smiles, hoping she got the joke right…the human words confusing her a little. John's face is impassive for a minute, before he starts giggling.

"Oh Feferi," he laughs a bit and comes back with another joke, "Why can't a T-Rex high-five?" Feferi shoots him a look that says that hasn't the foggiest as to why T-rexes can't high-five and John fights of giggles to tell her the answer. "Because, they're all extinct!" Feferi laughs lightly, and without stopping John launches into another joke.

"What's blue and smells like red paint?" This earns another 'tell me' look from Feferi and he says. "Blue paint!" For some reason he finds this extremely funny, and collapses into a fit if giggles. Feferi takes this as her chance to tell a riddle.

"So, if you have a bag with a pound of feathers, and a bag with a pound of rocks, and you dropped both from a plane, which one would hit the ground first?"

He takes a deep breath, to stop laughing, so he can answer, "Dur, dur, dur! Both at the same time!" then he continues to giggle.

"Correct!" she laughs a bit, and punches john lightly, "And 'dur' yourself, genius." When she punches him, he immediately stops laughing, and frowns.

"Did you just punch me" he asks, his voice flat, "DID YOU SERIOUSLY…JUST GO THERE…AND FUCKING. PUNCH. ME

She has stopped laughing as well, "Whale...I…"

"IT IS OVER FEFERI! OVER!" He crawls out from under the bed, and storms out of the room.

She follows him out from under the bed, and stands in the middle of the room, "What? What's over? John, I…" she stutters over her words, "What just happened?" she says to the empty room, tears collect in her eyes again. She sniffles and then says to herself, "No. No, Feferi, you are not going to cry. You. Are. Not. Going to…" she fails to follow her own advice, and breaks into sobs on the floor. "Oh cod...I'm such an idiot...I mess up EVERYFIN!"

John stops in his tracks as he hears Feferi crying, "Oh no…" he goes back to his room and pokes his head into the door, "F-Feferi...?" he sees her crying, and his face changes to display hatred. Self-hatred, "'Scuse me wile I bang my head over some chinaware..." he turns and leaves again, in the direction of the kitchen.

Feferi looks up as he leaves, pink still streaming down her face. She didn't quite catch what he said, "Wait, what? John-" she is interrupted by a loud shattering sound coming from the kitchen. She bolts to her feet, "J-John?!"

When there's no answer, save for more shattering noises she tears off towards the kitchen. When she arrives, she sees John, standing there, surrounded by shattered dishes. Another one smashes over his head as Feferi steps into the kitchen.

"John, no! Please don't!" she stands a few feet away, frozen in place.

John doesn't listen to her, and continues smashes dishes over his head, cuts forming and letting bright red blood trickle down his face. As he does, she can hear him mumble, "I'm sorry Feferi". He keeps smashing dishes, ignoring the blood; either that or he was in too much of a tizzy to notice it.

Feferi runs to him, in panic, and choke back tears, "Don't, please...just stop!" she sniffles a bit, and more tears roll down her cheeks.

John looks down at her, trying to be emotionless, (but the sadness and regret behind his eyes gave him away) his arms still above his head, poising to be dropped over his head, "I'm sorry Feferi" he releases the plate, and it smashes over his head, if Feferi had been any closer to him, she would have gotten cut. She is shocked in to motion, and grabs his hands in hers so he can't pick up anymore dishes.

He squirms a bit, trying to get free, but eventually gives up. Only then does Feferi release him, he doesn't make a move for the dishes again, but you can tell he wants to. Instead he just swallows and says, "Feferi, I should be less of an asshole around you, I'm sorry."

Feferi grabs either side of John's head with her hands he is shaking violently. She pulls him towards her, putting their foreheads together, smudging the blood across both of them. "John…shh, John. Just try to calm down." She paps him gently, more blood drops glide down his face, and now tears joined the blood. The tears and blood, trickle down his face, mixing together and dripping off his chin, joining the broken dishes on the floor, as John mutters "I'm so very sorry, Feferi."

"John...don't cry…" her fuchsia tears joining the red and clear droplets on the floor, "Please, don't cry…" Her voice is quiet, and shaky.

John, continues, "F-Feferi, I should stop being rude around you. I'm sorry."

She paps him some more, then tentatively asks, "John...why now? Why the sudden urge to be nice now? Did somefin happen?" she pulls away to look at him, their tear stained eyes meeting for a moment, before John looks away.

"N-no it's just…You punched me and, I was not really mad. I thought...never mind…" he takes a deep breath before continuing with a different thought, "Feferi, I'm at fault here, I suck and I'm sorry." He says this, softly, still not meeting he eyes.

Feferi lets go of his face, to grab his hands, and grip them tightly, "No, its mine. I never should have punched you. I-"

He interrupts her, "Feferi. No. I was...overreacting. I'm sorry"

She lets go of his hands, and rests her head on his chest, "I can't accept your apology...it wasn't your entire fault. I'm not going to let you take all the blame."

"Feferi, in all honesty that punch felt exactly like jack shit. I-It felt like someone was breathing on me. I overreacted. End of discussion."

Feferi take a deep breath, then nods, "Okay, then." She is nothing close to okay with John taking the blame, but she doesn't want to talk about it anymore, so she agrees. She looks up at John, and manages a slight smile. John looks down at her, meeting her eyes, also smiling. He paps her head and then speaks.

"We 'coo?"

She giggles a bit before responding, "We deffi coo'." Both of them laugh at her attempt to be 'cool'. After a moment, John stops laughing, and winces.

"Hehehe…oww my head hurts." He winces again, and his eyelids flutter a bit.

"Of course it does shelly! You just smashed half of the cupboard contents over it!"

"Feferi…is my head bleeding? It feels like it's bleeding…" his eyelids flutter again

She bites her lips before answering, "Yeah, quite a bit...er...quite a lot actually.

"Feferi?"

"Yes?"

"I think I might be about to pass out…I thi-thiiin..." Before he can finish, he slumps forwards, into Feferi's arms, unconscious, leaving her struggling to hold him up, and eventually, laying him on the ground, before her arms give out.

"Oh, no! Glub, no!" She starts to panic slightly, and tries her best to not completely freak out, "Don't you die on me, John!" She kneels on the floor, John's head in her lap. "No, no, no...It can't end like this! It can't end this way!" She is visibly shaking and trying no to cry, certain that John was dead, if not dying, from blood loss.

Suddenly, a hollow, wavering voice speaks; the speaker however, is nowhere to be found.

"~Bandage the wound, Feferi... and he will live to fight evil dishes another day ~"

"It won't end this way!" She cries out, and then violently bandages John's head. Then, she crouches next to him, her face lit up in anticipation. Her face falls, when nothing happens, and she brings her fists down on John's chest in anguish. "No...I...I wasn't fast enough!"

~You're doing it the wrong way, clean the wound and bandage it you dumb bitch.~

"Damn, ghosty voice, fiiine!" She says, removing the bandages, cleaning the wound thoroughly, and then re-bandaging it with clean wrapping. She then sits back on her haunches, and waits again, her eyes lit up in hope, but her mouth frowning with worry.

After a silence that seemed like forever, John starts stirring, and he awakens, "Oh my god, Feferi...w-what happened last night? Why does my head hurt? Why are you and I in the kitchen? Why is there broken china everywhere?!" he keeps rambling, but Feferi interrupts him, with a hug.

"It doesn't matter." she says as she hugs him, "All that matter is that you're okay now."

John awkwardly hugs her back, "Uuh, okay."

She pulls away to ask, "How much do you remember?"

"Uuuh... I remember telling bad jokes, and getting breathed on my arm…then, blackout. I'm scared to ask what happened next…"

She takes a deep breath before speaking, "Okay, that 'breathing' was me punching you, then you stormed out, I stated crying, you heard me crying and then decided to smash all these dishes over your head...it wasn't pretty John..." she frowns as she finishes her sentence.

"Oh," says John, simply, "Ok then. That explains a lot." Suddenly, tears start rolling down his cheeks, and he starts to cry silently. "How could this happen to me?" he mutters.

"John! No! Don't cry!" She puts her arms around him, "John, what's wrong? Tell me!"

Still crying, and with out answering her, he gets up and runs from the room, and out of the house. Feferi follows, and finds him in an alley, a few blocks away. He has attached a specially tied rope to some pipes above, "Fuck this!" he kicks the support base, which happened to be a trashcan, out from under him.

"No!" Feferi cries, "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooo oooooooo!" She somehow manages to catch him and un-noose him, holding in her arms, as they sit on the floor.

John continues to sob, "F-Feferi? How could this happen to me?!"

Tears started streaming down her face, "John?"

" No, Feferi...You're the only person I really considered a friend..." he sniffled a bit, "Please don't go..."

"John...I… that means so much! I won't ever go, I'm staying right here!"

"Feferiiiii" he whined

"What happened? Tell me what happened!" she fights back tears.

"I-I don't even know anymore." He stutters.

"Tell me everyfin. I'm here for you. I love you..." she hugs him close, then her eyes go wide, and she pulls away, realizing what she just said, "I mean..."

"…you mean?" he looks confused for a moment, and then figures it out, "Oh Feferi..."

Feferi nods in response, "I knew you'd never feel the same, you and Karkat are a thing...so I just" she stops and shrugs, "never told you..."

John pulls Feferi into a hug, "F-Feferi... I don't, I..." he sighs, "Karkat... he'll..." he stutters as he looks for words. In that moment, it's almost as if you can hear The Godfather theme slowly start to play in background.

As he trails off, Feferi looks up at him, "Huh?" she says

"Feferi... I'm known for breaking hearts. And, I'm sorry... It pains me greatly." He stops, composing him self again, "Feferi, I ca-" he chokes on his words a bit, "I can't betray Karkat." A fedora appears on his head, "I'm sorry you got dragged into this..."

"It's fine John. I knew you didn't like me like that...That you could never like me like that… I'm," she pauses, and takes a calming breath, "f-fine with it."

"Feferi…" John starts to say, but trails away.

"I'm used to rejection by now…" Feferi says, and turns away.

"No woman should have to feel this way." John says, firmly. He reaches out and grabs her wrist, "Feferi, look at me."

She swallows and looks up at him. She blinks at him, her eyes wide, and threatening to start tearing up, again.

John just stares down at her eyes for a moment, before pulling her in for a /chast/ kiss and a hug, holding her close. The rain pouring down harder as the night went on. The streetlights flickered in the distance, providing little light for the alleyway they were in. Nobody could see them through the thick rain. Only he knew it, but John was crying, his tears mixed with the rainwater. A flashes of lightning and the boom of thunder and he was just...gone, but in Feferi's hand was a small red rose.

Feferi smiles after separating from embrace, "John I,-" her eyes widen as she notices John isn't there. She looks around a bit, and then notices the rose in her hand. She had seen roses like that before…but where?

Then it struck her, it looked exactly the same as the roses that grew outside of The Don's house. She looks a bit scared as she mouths the word, "Mafia…"

.


	2. The Trouble with (Love) Trianlges

Karkat leans against the kitchen cabinets, a coffee in hand, waiting for the snicker doodles to bake. He is completely unaware of the commotion going on in the next room.

"So... It's Karkat's diary?" says Dom

"Quickly put it back in his room!" John says, in a hushed tone "Noooo! Give it to me! I'll put it back, before he hears us!" John says.

"Ok I'll just go chill with Karkat" Dom walks towards the kitchen, giggling quietly, "Hey, Karkat!"

"Oh, hello again, Dom." Says Karkat, a pleasant expression on his face.

"Why so happy? Something interesting happen to you?"

"Is a guy not allowed to be fucking happy, for once, without being questioned?!"

"Sorry dude, but it's unusual for you"

"Jeez, fucking thanks."

"Well, at least I fucking care what happens to you"

"Well, thank you for that" he sips his coffee, before the oven dings and he goes to remove the snicker doodles.

"No prob" Dom says, pulling a face.

Meanwhile, John hides diary under his bed, walks out to the kitchen "Karkat! Let's go for a walk!

"John…no…the snicker doodle is just finished and I was planning on-"

"Yay! We can have a picnic then." John says, dragging Karkat towards the door.

After a little while, and a lot of whining from John, Karkat reluctantly agrees to go for a walk to the park with him, bringing along the snicker-doodles.

They don their jackets and set out. It's a cool day out, not too hot, but overcast. The forecast called for rain, but they went out anyways, They reach the park in a matter of minutes, already there, standing in the center of the path is a young, female troll, who looks to be the same age as John and Karkat themselves. It's too dark to see who she is, at first, in the evening light, but as they get closer they can see it is Feferi, she holds a small rose in her hand and her face is tipped the sky, eyes closed, enjoying the evening breeze. John detaches himself from Karkat's arm and runs towards her to greet her.

"Feferiii! 'Sup?"

"Oh, hey John, what are you doing here?" she asks, smiling brightly.

"Just...walking." John says, with a small laugh

"OH, HELLO, FEFERI." Karkat says, as he joins them, having opted to walk to her, not run.

"Hey! It's a lovely day, for a troll to be alive, huh?" says Feferi, smiling still.

"Ermahgerd, yes!" replies John, overenthusiastically.

"Yes, it's fucking glorious." Karkat says, with heavy sarcasm. He then remembers his manners and, "Hey, Feferi." He opens the container of snicker doodles and holds it out to her "Want a snicker doodle?"

"Hm? Okay, shore!" she smiles and takes one.

"John stopped killing me long enough to do something productive."

"Haha, that's great," takes a bite from her snicker doodle "Mmm! These are delicious!"

*He smiles, "Really?"

"Yeah, I like them a lot!" She finishes it off, Can I have another?"

"Yeah, help yourself."

"Thanks!" she smiles and takes another "You should try one!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAT" John cried, as he came back from whatever planet he had dazed off to, "Give me a cookie!"

Karkat eats a snicker doodle and then responds "No, you ungrateful little shit."

"WOW THESE ARE GOOD!" John cries out, after smashing his face into container.

"John, haha, slow down! One at a time!" *attempts to pry him away*

"Mmmmm" says John, his face still in the tray. Then, he removes his face, only to start slapping the cookies, breaking them.

The already fuming Karkat makes a "SCREEEEE!" sound tackles John, "Gah, fuck you!"

"Om nom nom nom no- AH!" John's noises of nourishment, interrupted by Karkat's tackle.

"Ehehe. You mad bro?"

"YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE!" Karkat cries out, as he head butts John, dropping the container of crushed snicker doodles.

"I kno- OOW your horns, man!" John winces in pain, as Karkat steps up to him, looking for all the world like he was about to punch John, right in the kisser. "F-Feferi, that's a beautiful rose you have..." John says, getting distracted from Karkat's rage.

"Good! You deserved that!" says Karkat, as he raises his fist "What did you say…?"

"That rose. The one Feferi has"

"Yes...thank you...it odd you should say that though..."

"What? Why?" says John.

"John...don't you remember..." she looks confused and crest-fallen as she says this.

John's eyes light up in rememberance. "Uh, yea I know...N-No Feferi, don't cry" he pushes Karkat away and pulls her to him, in an almost hug.

"John I...I thought...I thought what we had..." she starts to say

"Feferi..." his fedora magically appears on his head again, as Feferi makes a small whimpering noise and looks up at him.

"Egbert?" Karakt says, trying to process what is going on.

"Shut up, Karkat. I will eat your hands."

"No! No, John, don't do that!" Feferi says, and catches his hands in hers.

"Oh... hi Feferi" John says, as she catches his hands, his cheeks go red with a blush.

"H -hey, John..." Feferi says, blushing also.

*LOOKS FROM FEFERI'S FACE TO THEIR HANDS TO JOHN'S FACE WITH A SOUR EXPRESSION BUT REMAINS SILENT*

*He looked down at the rose, then into Feferi's eyes. John's own eyes held curiosity, and something else…a chast fondness. "So Feferi..." he says, not moving his hands.

"Um, yeah?" she smiles, and blushes deeper.

"It's late and dark out, why are you out here alone?"

"I, uh..." confusion crosses her face, and she says the nest part as if she's talking to herself, "He reely doesn't remember…"

"I don't remember you two being so fucking chummy with each other."

John glares at Karkat, "Want _us_ to walk you home, Feferi?"

She stays silent, staring at the ground blushing still, then quietly says, "Shore, okay."

"She can fucking handle herself, I'm sure." Karkat says a hint of spite in his voice.

"Come on, you must be cold." He takes off his jacket and wraps it around her, "Come on Karkat." John says, with another pointed glare in his direction.

"Yeah, actually," she separates, "I think I can m-manage. Thanks though John, The offer was ap-apriciated." She is on the edge of tears, and something in her expression must have shown it because as Karkat looks at her, he himself doesn't look quite so sour, but he doesn't make a move to apologize.

"Feferi..." John says, sounding concerned "Is something bothering you?"

"I...um" she starts, then remembers the rose, and looks down at the ground, as she holds it out to him, for him to see.

"This is a very beautiful rose Feferi. Dare I ask who gave it to you?" He asks the question again, as if he didn't know the answer.

"John...I…" she looks up at him. "You...don't..." she turns away.

"F-Feferi? Feferi, wait!" John grabs her shoulder, and turns her to face him, "Feferi, what happened?" genuine concern fills his eyes.

She swallows before answering, "I have to go John... I'll, uh… see you later" She turns again and darts off.

Karkat scowls, "What's going on? It's just a fucking flower!"

"Feferi! Wait!" He runs after her, and finds her sobbing in an alley, her knees hugged to her chest. He kneels by her and gently lifts her head up, "Feferi..." There's a crack of thunder, and rain starts to fall, "Tell me."

Karkat blinks at the rain and adjusts his turtle neck so water doesn't go down his neck, as he looks into the alley from where he's stood on the street.

She tries to look away, but he won't let her, instead he helps her to her feet, still meeting he eyes, "I…" she trails off, and starts to cry again "You and I...I thought...we…" she sniffles a bit, trying to stay composed.

"Feferi? I..." he trails off as well, unsure of what to say

She throws her arms around his neck...still crying. It was a weak attempt at a hug, she is cold and is starting to lose feeling in her limbs. John was taken by shock. Yet, he wrapped his arms around her, unsure of what else to do, "F-Feferi, no girl should feel like this. Please…" there's a flash of lightning, "tell me what happened." His eyes still had that chast form of fondness in them, but it seemed less platonic this time, more like true fondness and love.

She lays her head on his shoulder and takes a few deep breaths, "You and I...a few days ago, I thought we had something special, even though it was just a few fleeting moments in the rain...it still felt like there was something!"

He gently strokes her hair, "Oh Feferi..." he pulls her closer, "I-I..." he stops again, and sighs, he starts again, but is interrupted, "Feferi..."

"I know you felt it too, I saw it in your eyes...you were crying… I know you thought I wouldn't notice, with all the rain, and shit...but I did."

Karkat watches them, as they talk, too far away to hear what they're saying but just watching the gestures makes him sick to the stomach with jealousy and sets him practically shaking with rage; his clenched fists starting to cut his palms.

"and then," Feferi continues "when you left, and all that remained was a rose...this rose...all I could do was smile...because, for the first time ever, I finally felt like I had found someone who I could trust for ever, and who would always be there for me, who loved me, unconditionally. But...I guess...I guess not…" she starts sobbing again, soaking the fabric of john's shirt with pink tears.

"Feferi I... Karkat will..." He remains silent, till a crack of lightning. From the entrance to the alley during the lightning, what Karkat saw, what a silhouette of them... kissing, the way they held each other was anything but platonic, and was far to friendly for Karkat's liking. All he could do was stare, his hair sticking to his face from the soaking rain and a few droplets of blood gliding down his skin, from his cut palms and dropping on the floor. The rain droplets mixing with the red tears smear his face, and soon feel to the ground as well. He couldn't find the motivation to move. He could only stand in silence.

John breaks the kiss and hugs her tightly, "Feferi" he sobs. "Please don't cry..."

She just stands there, in his arms, having stopped crying, confused, still unsure of John's feelings, but eventually her eyes close and she rests her head on his shoulder, smiling.

There's another loud crack of thunder as well as a flash of lightning, and John gently tilts her head up so he was looking her in the face. He used his thumb to wipe the tears from her face. The feeling was a mixture of lust and regret. He liked kissing Feferi, he did not want to betray Karkat... but it's a little late for that. As he stares up at him, blinking, her eyes portray her love but her face is still screwed up this time with realization, having put the pieces together, that maybe John liked her, but he would never leave Karkat. It saddens her, but she also finds it respectable.

Karkat had moved closer by now, so they'd be able to hear him, "So you guys are more than just fucking "chummy" then, you pile of vile shit." He tried not to sniffle as he stood there, facing them.

"Karkat...I…" she was still unreasonably close to John.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, WITCH!" he cries at her.

"Ahh!" she shuffles backwards, and turns so she is facing the corner between the dead end of the alley and the building next to her, neither of them can see her face, but they can see her shoulders shaking with sobs.

There's another crack of thunder as John says, "Karkat... it was…I can explain!"

"YOU CAN FUCKING 'EXPLAIN' ALL YOU FUCKING WANT. SO IS THIS WHY YOU TRIED TO DISPOSE OF ME?! YOU DIDN'T EXPECT ME TO LOYALLY COME BACK TIME AFTER TIME LIKE A BRAIN-DEAD PATHETIC PUPPY. IS THAT IT?!" he's shouting now, waving his arms around in pure anger. He wipes his eyes with the cut palm of his hands smearing more red across his cheeks.

"Karkat... please I can explain..."

"No. you fucking won't. You have the witch. You've used me; broke me and now you're disposing me. I'll take myself out to the trash fucking for you! Save your FUCKING PATHETIC TIME!" He turns to walk away.

"Karkat, please I-I..." He looked for words to say, but could find none to describe what he felt. "Karkat. No, it's not like that! I swear! Please Karkat...!"

She sniffles and turns around standing up. She wobbles, but stays up right, "John...Karkat...I'm so sorry...it's all my fault...Ugh! I'm such an idiot, and now I'm a home wrecker too!"

"No...Feferi… God DAMMIT! Karkat don't you fucking walk away from me. Karkat! Karkat... Wait please!" He walked up to Karkat, and hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder Karkat I'm s-"

"IT'S NOT LIKE WHAT?!" Karkat was practically screaming at this point, his voice breaking every now and then and sounding graveling, "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME YOU VILE SHIT. YOU'RE NOT SORRY!" he aimed one of his balled fists at john and swung. John had jumped back before he got punched. But the fact that Karkat tried to hurt him shocked him. Well, he did cheat, but…All these mixed feelings, John was at a loss and just stared at Karkat, shocked and scared. He blinked once and stood up straight, but lowered his head.

As his swing missed his nostrils flared like a raging bull, yet the water works just wouldn't seem to give him a break, "YOU'RE NOT SORRY. YOU'RE NOT FUCKING SORRY AT ALL, TRAITOR."

"Karkat, I'm sorry you saw that, Feferi I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I...I need to go..." At a loss for words, he started slowly walking home, a coward, and gently pushed Karkat aside. As the rain continued he was getting less and less visible, until he disappeared into the shroud of the rain, and the darkness. Neither Feferi nor Karkat was string enough to chase after him, at this point.

As John disappears, Feferi turns to Karkat, "Listen..."

He swung another punch but had the sense to direct away from Feferi and instead hit the wall, the course bricks grazing the skin from his knuckles, and with a wince of pain he fell to his knees. "What." He mumbled.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, but it's my fault. Don't be mad at John," she kneels beside him, "be mad at me. He really likes you, I can tell. He really didn't want to hurt you at all; he didn't want to betray you."

Karkat stares at the concrete in-front of him, "It's fine, Feferi. It's my fault. I shouldn't of believed that anyone would love a mutant, a pathetic stubby-horned, mutant, idiot."

"But he DOES love you, more than anyfin. It was what kept me from telling him I liked him for so long, the fact that you two reely loved each other. He loves you so glubbing much."

"No, Feferi, he doesn't. No need to fucking lie to me."

"I'm not lying," she grabs his shoulders. "Fucking listen to me when I say that, he loves you, and he would give the world for you."

He lamely tries to shrug her hands off of him, "I'm fucking listening; you're just lying. Why would anyone love me?! Why would anyone a fucking grumpy shit head like me?

"Because, you're not afraid to be yourself, and tell people how you really feel. You don't lie, or sacrifice the truth for people's feelings, and so much more. You're amazing Karkat, and John sees that. He loves everything about you. Those things you consider flaws, he loves those. Those things you hate about yourself, he loves those. Everything about you, everything you are...he loves"

"STOP LYING TO ME AND FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE!" he shouts swinging one more punch at the wall, "NO. THAT'S NOT ME. YOU'VE ALL SAID SO. I'M JUST FUCKING GRUMPY STUB NUBS. YOU'VE ALL SAID IT BEFORE. SO STOP LYING AND GET AWAY FROM ME. NOW!"

"Karkat...I" Feferi starts, he throws her hands off him and she attempts to grab him again.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he forcefully wrenched himself out of her grip.

"Karkat...wait!"

"JUST STOP IT" his face screws up as he couldn't keep himself from sobbing anymore. "PLEASE. JUST STOP."

Feferi blinks, holding back sobs, "Go to him."

"No. He doesn't want _me_. He wants _you_!"

"Go. To. Him."

He looked up this time shouting, "HE DOESN'T WANT ME!" before turning away and stumbling towards the alley exit. "Fuck off." he grumbled as he walked out of the alley, soaked to the bone, shivering, but that didn't matter. He didn't care that the people pointed at his red tears or stared at him. He didn't care where he was going. He was on auto-pilot. He'd zoned, he could only think about _them, _John and Feferi, together, kissing in the rain. Their arms around each other in way that was more than platonic and far too friendly for Karkat's liking. He was brought back to his senses when he reached for a door handle. This wasn't his home. It was John's.

As John made his way home, he slowly unlocked the door. His hands were shaking and his heart fell to his stomach. As usual the house was a biiiit of a mess, but no matter. He hung his fedora and SHIT he forgot his jacket with Feferi! He was at a loss for what to do. He lost not only his best friend and 'matesprit' but he hurt Feferi... to him, nothing mattered anymore. He got the sudden idea to...

John glanced walked over to the couch. Not caring that he was soaking wet. On the coffee table sat his camera. He decided "Why not" and took a look at some of the pictures

Just the ordinary pictures of random things, but as he browsed he came across a picture that stunned him. It was of himself and Karkat. Together. And Karkat was actually... smiling, it was small of course... but he was smiling. "You never know what you got till it's gone" he said to himself. And he gently put the camera back down, and stood up. His mind was set on what he wanted to do... A single tear streaked down his face as he slowly made it to the garage to grab one of the ropes.

John tied a special knot in the rope, and hung it over his ceiling fan. He quickly ran to the front door to make sure it was locked, and closed the blinds. He picked a chair from the kitchen and slowly moved it to below the rope. He then stood up on the chair and pulled out his wallet. Inside there was the same picture of him and Karkat. He looked at it for a moment and more tears fell from his face, before slowly ripping it in half down the middle. He let his piece of the picture fall to the floor, and held Karkat's close to his heart. Using is other hand he put the loop around his throat.

And took a step.

As he stepped, the picture in his hand dropped slowly. It floated down to rest right next to the other half. The one with John

Karkat could hear from the door something being ripped in half, then a... chair being knocked over. What the hell was happening in the- oh no...

*HE LOOKED UP AT THE SOUND. TUGGING AT THE HANDLE BUT IT WOULDN'T BUDGE* JOHN?!

JOHN! *NEXT TRYING THE WINDOWS ONLY TO SEE THE BLINDS DOWN. HE RAN TOWARDS THE BACK OF THE HOUSE*

Mean while Feferi sighs and starts to walk home alone, too sad to even cry, as she reaches her own house, she realizes she was still wrapped in John's jacket. She let out a short string of curses, before deciding to turn around, walk to his house and bring it back to him. As she walks she people watch her either wondering what someone her age was doing out so late, or, if they were human, what she was. Full stop. After a little while she passes a small cafe, and the people coming out stare at her.

"Fuck off! Stop staring at me!" she grumbles, screaming the last part. She breaks into a run, after this, not stopping until she reaches the end of John's street, and only then, to compose her self. After a moment, she starts to turn around, considering going home, not sure if she can handle seeing John right now. She starts to walk away, but stops, shaking her head, and turns around and starts walking towards the house...getting faster and gradually breaking into a run, just wanting to get it over with.

Karkat sprinted to the back opening the back door and letting it swing back and bang against the wall, not bothering to turn on the lights as he walked into the room. Everything was silent, except for the sound of swinging rope; the eerie CREEEEK of the fibers bond together. Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the whole room. What Karkat saw was a silhouette of a body. Hanging from the ceiling

It doesn't take long before Feferi reaches the front door, and knocks, pauses for a moment, then knocks again. She waits. No one is coming to answer the door, so she decides to come back later. She turns to go, but then has the brilliant idea to search the pockets of Johns coat for a house key.

Karkat paused. Everything seemed to stop. He didn't hear the knock with the blood roaring in his ears. "John?" he croaked taking a step closer to the hanging body, looking physically sick.

Another crack of lightning lit the room up again, and he could see... it was John. His face was pale and skin, cold to the touch. Visible also was the picture of him and John on the floor, torn in half.

"NO. NO. YOU CAN'T DIE!" he marched over to hoist John's body off the ceiling fan and lay it down on the floor, removing the rope and ghosting his fingers over the bruises around his neck, "JOHN." he was speaking a lot louder and desperately, "JOHN DON'T FUCKING DO THIS TO ME! JOHN!" he rasped, genitally shaking him. Unable to stop the tears from falling onto John, "JUST STOP IT. PLEASE"

John's facial expression was blank. His eyes still open. You could see the tear marks dried on his face. No matter what Karkat did, he would not awaken.

Feferi unlocks the door, and steps inside; she calls out, "John? A-are you home? I…uh…brought your jacket back...it's kinda muddy, and really wet but...uh…hello?"

Karkat was clutching john's body like a small child would their favourite teddy. His face was screwed up and his shoulders shook as he sobbed, "PLEASE."

"John, are you ho-?" she hears sobbing and stops, craning her neck to try and see into the back of the house, then wanders further in, following the sound of the sobbing.

Feferi soon found the scene, what was laid out for Feferi... crushed her. John's lifeless body in Karkat's arms. The torn picture. The rope. The camera, which still had the picture of him and Karkat on it. She stands in the door way of the room unable to move her face stricken with an expression of pure, unadulterated horror.

Karkat was hunched over, not knowing Feferi was there. He leaned forward until his forehead touched John's before whispering, "I love you."

Feferi falls to her knees, with a soft thud, watching the scene, unable to cry or move, just clutching the jacket, and watching.

John's-thought-to-be lifeless eyes met with Karkat's...as he spoke his last words "I love you too, Karkat" another crack of thunder and lightning lit up the room. His head leaned back and his hand slowly slid off his body, to point to the torn picture on the floor.

He didn't move when he heard Feferi, he listened to John before he just closed his eyes and carried on whispering sweet nothings, "I don't hate you. I love you. I don't care about what happened. I want to keep coming back, because I love you and I don't want to live without you." Behind him, Feferi gets up and quietly walks to him, putting John's jacket over his shoulders, and kneeling down next to him, putting her arms around, comforting him.

Karkat briefly jumped as he felt the jacket being placed on him and opened his sore, red eyes to look at Feferi. He was still clutching his body like his own life depended on it, like it would somehow take some of his life and put it into John. Even though a low blood doesn't have much life, he'd give it all to john if he could, "H-he won't-. I couldn't-. I want-".

"Shhhh, Shhhh." She just holds him, trying to comfort him.

His shoulders shook as he broke down into hysterical sobs again, pressing his forehead against John's again, "Feferi I-..."

She holds him close as he sobs, "It's okay...let it out."

Suddenly, John's cell phone started to ring. It was on the table with the camera on it

"I-I... didn't want... _this_." he nuzzles against John and leaned into Feferi* "I should of s-stop- *the rest was just sobbing until he heard the phone ring and looked up*.

She had been papping Karkat, but stops, as it rings. Feferi looks at Karkat, then at the phone, then back at Karkat.

After a moment the call goes to answering machine, which auto-plays the message. The caller was a man, with a thick accent. "Yo, Johnny, I know you been goin' through some stress, but I just wanted to tell ya that I'm commin' over. Maybe we can talk about it? I'll be dere like, five minutes. Heh Heh You know who I am, Gonzalo Auditore" Then there's a click, signifying that 'Gonzalo' had hung up.

Karkat wiped his face with one hand and left John with Feferi as he got up and walked to the phone. Looking at the screen so see who was calling before noticing the camera next to the phone as had a photo on the screen. He smiled at the photo, remembering those sweet, innocent times. He chuckled until the harsh reality kicked in. He turned to look at John's corpse, the crushing reminder those days were gone. Forever. His smile turns to a grimace, then to shock as there is a knock on the door, the front door. That Feferi had forgotten to close behind her. In his shock he drops the camera and it clatters to the floor.

Feferi is just staring at John's corpse expressionless, unable to feel anymore, but she jumps when she hears the knock. She looks at Karkat, partially because he dropped the camera and partially to ask him, "What do we do?" She mouths the question. Karkat blinks and shrugs in response, looking like a deer in highlights.

Footsteps near the room they are in, "Johnny...?" it's the man with the thick accent, Gonzalo. He pokes his head in, a silhouette in the dim light. The silhouette steps into the room, it's too dark for him to see much of anything, "Johnny you ho- OWW" Gonzalo trips over something John had left on the floor, landing him crashing to the floor. It was a lucky break for him, because Karkat had stood behind the door, wiping round to hold the sickle at what he assumed his neck height, but he missed, due to Gonzalo falling.

"Johnny boy you gotta get your sheet off the floor!" Gonzalo struggles to get up, "Eh... what is this anyway..?"

Karkat uses the blunt end of the sickle to push the guy back down, "Don't move."

Feferi crawls backwards and hides behind Karkat, still on the ground and cowering behind his legs.

"What the fu- OOW HEY YOU LITTLE SHEET"

Karkat he pressed it into Gonzalo's back, still using the blunt end, "What do you want?"

"I'm here for Johnny! Who the hell are you?!" says Gonzalo

"A friend." Replies Karkat, making it clear he wasn't going to offer anymore information

"Ok, where is he?" asks Gonzalo

"Sleeping." Karkat answers, using the same voice as before, but it wavers this time.

"Well ok then…wait, why are you here?" asks Gonzalo

"Because, this is what friends do." Karkat still had the sickle pressed against Mr. Auditore's back.

"Uh huh…"

"Unless you don't have any friends you crude fucker." Karkat continues

"HEY THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR YOU LITTLE SHEET!"

Karkat presses the sickle a little harder, "Why do you want John?"

Gonzalo bucks Karkat off, and turns around to see the entire scene, his eyes falling on John's lifeless body, "J-Johnny..."

"GAH!" Karkat cries out as he's bucked off tripping over Feferi who was still hiding behind him.

"YOU LITTLE SHEETS KILLED JOHNNY?!" Gonzalo cries out, his voice thick with rage.

"YES." Karkat replies, not saying anything else.

"THATS EET," lightening quick he pulls a pocket knife and jumps to Karkat, who was on his feet in a matter of milliseconds, holding up his sickle in defense.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU CARE?!"

"Because I'm his fucking friend, and my father is not gonna be happy when he hears this..."

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOUR FATHER." Karkat screams out, and spits in his direction.

"YOU LITTLE BUTTHEAD! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU MURDERED JOHNNY!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU FUCKING TRY!" the both were shouting now, swinging at each other. The blades reflecting and shining as the lightening flashed outside. Just as it appeared that one of them was about to win, the other pulled ahead and even the playing field again. Eventually, the pocket knife dropped from Gonzalo's hand as Karkat struck him with the butt of the sickle.

Karkat aimed a quick kick to Gonzalo's mid-section, stunning him. With that he swung each sickle at Gonzalo, sweeping them down diagonally, and delivering two fatal gashes across his chest. The wounds spill blood, and it seeps through Gonzalo's shirt as he slumps to his knees, then falls on his face, and bleeds out. Karkat, breathing heavily, stands over him. He wipes his brow and stares down at the body, his expression full of malice.

In the action he hadn't noticed what was going on behind him, he hadn't noticed as John's body began to stir, he didn't notice as John spoke, the adrenalin rush, and the horror of realizing that he had just killed a man, filling his mind, blocking everything else out. But Feferi noticed, and her eyes went wide in fear. She had been certain that he was dead, but his hand had clearly just moved, and his eyelids began to flutter.

"K-Karkat?" Feferi says, "You should come here"

The corpse on the floor slowly starts to awaken "K-Karkat...?"

"John?" Karkat is shocked back into focus when John's familiar voice meets his eyes, he turns around, eyes wide, unable to believe what he is seeing.

John's hands flex for a moment, and he blinks several times, "What happ-" he stops speaking and winces.

By this point Karkat has already started crying again, red tears slipping down his already stained face "J-John?"

John doesn't answer, he just rubs the bruises on his neck, "Ahhh... my head hurts" his voice is faint and weak, but still audible. He freezes as his memory flashes back to the previous events. He sat himself up, looked down at the floor and twiddled his thumbs* "I'm... I'm sorry you guys"

Karkat's just staring like a idiot, unable to form sentences…or find words….or make sounds…all he was able to do was stand, and stare.

John lets out a depressed sigh, "Feferi, I'm gonna say this now. It would have never worked out between us, dear. I'm sorry for disappointing you... but, can we still be friends?"

She looked up, listening, she was already certain of what he was going to say, even before he said it. She blinks, straitening her thoughts, then smiles as genuinely as possible, "Of course, John." He smiles back at her, before turning to Karkat.

"Wow, Karkat…My head hurts…"

The only reply Karkat gave was a stunned silence.

"And Karkat... I'm so very sorry, about everything. About the waffles, about the demons and the werewolf, about me eating your hands, about stein, about saying BUCKET through the vents, about killing everyone." (Note: All the things he listed happened, but that's another story, for another time)

As John continues on, Karkat gets up and drops the sickle without saying a word, an emotionless face walks slowly towards John.

"About everything. I understand, if you don't want to be…you know…" John sniffles, "I'm so sorry..."

"Shut up for five fucking seconds, John Egbert." Karkat says.

John, silenced, lowers his head in grief. Karkat leans forward and hugs him, holding his shirt a little too tight and once again the waterworks are set into full swing. The action shocks John a bit, but he pulls his arms up to hug Karkat back, both of them crying.

"I don't care, just...just never do that again."

"I promise...I won't"

Still unaware he's still wearing John's jacket, Karkat looks over at Feferi who is about 10 feet away, watching the scene unfold. Smiling, sadly, but still smiling, still happy for them. Karkat wipes his eyes before smiling and making a gesture to offer her to join the hug.

She waves it off, "Nah, I don't wanna ruin the moment. You guys look so adorable!"

John mutters loudly, "Feferi, you get your ass up in this hug before I slap a fish."

She laughs, "Oh, alright!" and walks towards them.

Karkat pens an arm for Feferi, who pauses a moment before joining the hug in space made for her by Karkat, wrapping an arm around them both, smiling. Karkat's other hand still had a death grip on John's shirt,

"Hey guys," says John, "Guys, guess what!"

"What?" says Karkat.

"Karkat, Feferi, Guess what!"

"Hm? What is it, John?" Feferi answers this time.

"Chicken butt." John says, a goof-ball smile on his face.

"John fucking Egbert. You're an idiot."

Feferi smacks John upside the head lightly, "Not funny, John" she laughs.

"Feferi, if it was not funny, why are you giggling?"

She continues to giggle, "I-uh chose not to answer that…"

"...you guys…" says John

"Hm?" asks Karkat.

"Yeah?" asks Feferi.

"I want food. Hey Karkat... can you make some snicker doodles. Please." John says, looking away, and around the room, getting distracted.

"Later. I want to enjoy this fucking moment for a minute longer." His eyes are closed and a smile lights his face. He lays his head on John's shoulder, and holds him, and Feferi close, enjoying the moment. Then, he pulls out the hug, "Okay. I'm fucking done."

Hand in hand they walk back to Karkat's place, glad that all the drama and disaster is over for now…for now.


End file.
